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| King Louis XIV |
King Louis XIV decided to construct Versailles in a swampy area that was the sight of
his father’s old hunting lodge. The original château was on a hill and Louis
was told that was not a good location for a grand palace; however, he dismissed
everyone’s concerns. Louis believed himself directly appointed by god, and like
other 17th century monarchs and nobody could tell him what to do. He would not hear of his palace being built anywhere else and he wanted
the old house to remain untouched and have the new design incorporate the old
building.
Even
though the building itself is incredibly spectacular, the gardens of Versailles are just as important as the Château. Louis XIV
commissioned André Le Nôtre to design the grand landscape of Versailles in 1661, which he made his true masterpiece. The creation
of the gardens was a tremendous amount of work. The gardens are elaborate
structures and inventively geometric, formal, and Nôtre did a fantastic job for
creating a sense of cohesion thought out the massive gardens. The idea of a
principal axis was incredible important for the gardens, and Nôtre found a way
to make the axis into an indefinite distance and erasing all visible boundaries
(p. 92). The huge number of flowerbeds, fountains, pools, sculptures, geometric
topiary, and canals were substantial. Louis XIV
even had mature trees from other parts of France uprooted and brought to
Versailles because he did not wait to wait to have the trees grow in. Apollo
was his inspiration, as seen by his nickname the Son God. Therefore, he had
statues and references to Apollo thought the gardens.
In 1682, Louis XIV moved the government and court to Versailles. He used Versailles as a place to impress foreign dignitaries with ceremonies, festivals and concerts. He had a great impact over the music, art, literature, and theater during his time. This grand estate was meant to show off in every possible way. The fact that Louis had Versailles built over this difficult marshland displayed his power over nature and it was a “symbol of monarchial magnificence” (p. 92).
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You make a great point in the first paragraph when you reference King Louis XIV's stubbornness in choosing to enlarge Versailles and keep the palace it the same location. It is another example of how his belief in the divine right of kings affected his life, and how he ruled his kingdom! And I think it is interesting to compare this with the heavy allegory of Apollo that can be found throughout the gardens of Versailles, because the allegory is much more visible, but really no less indicative of his personality.
ReplyDeleteKing Louis XIV's attitude when going about many different aspects of life reflected his divine beliefs in himself. I think your point about the allegory of Apollo is quite telling. Throughout Versailles he placed imagery and references to Apollo the sun god, according to Greek mythology. King Louis XIV was considered the sun king, which I think demonstrates a clear connection between the two.
ReplyDeleteI like how you focused on the fact that Versailles was built on marshlands and that King Louis XIV would not hear of building it anywhere else. It is interesting to view his power over nature, "monarchial magnificence," and how it relates to his belief in the divine right of kings. I have not been to Versailles, but I definitely would never have imagined it to be build on potentially unstable, marshy grounds - it is such an edifice in the landscape!
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